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Thanks, everyone! I've been doing this long enough that stuff like this isn't as stressful as it once was, I know I just have to roll with it. RTN is really weird though, there's just no apparent reason in this case. I checked my logs in the Apex, and there were no temperature fluctuations, no unusual Ph levels, and all the other parameters were stable. And all the other acros are doing fine (knock on wood...)

I'm working out of town right now, but when I get back I'm going to check the logs a couple weeks back. @markalot has pointed out that these things usually happen as part of a delayed reaction to stress weeks after the stressing event happens.

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sorry to hear about the PC Rainbow. Is the tank too clean? I haven't had RTN since I stopped worrying about low nutrients. My clowns stopped laying eggs because their wall (overflow) was covered in a thick black/green algae that took me 5 minutes to scrape off. I wish I understood why acros sometimes tolerate unnaturally dirty conditions better than clean ones. I suspect it's because we can't keep enough floaties (food) in the water but I really have no clue.

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if it makes it any better, my 2 GBGs have been in QT for 1 month now and are doing great. your GBGs inspired me to finally get them and i can't wait to put them in the display. they are such amusing little fish, i'm really hoping they pair up

1 passed on, 2 reborn

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Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been super busy with work! No more disasters since my last post, and there's a tiny bit of the PC Rainbow hanging on still. Which is weird, I had the same exact thing happen with a different PC Rainbow frag in the 40g tank. It literally had two polyps left, and it's grown back to almost an inch long since then. So I have hope for this one too!

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Good to see that some of the PC Acro survived. Strange how unpredictable they can be, but not uncommon to see this in the wild, too. Good thing is that they can grow back like a weed if conditions are just right.

As for the GBG...RIP little guy...

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Good to see that some of the PC Acro survived. Strange how unpredictable they can be, but not uncommon to see this in the wild, too. Good thing is that they can grow back like a weed if conditions are just right.

As for the GBG...RIP little guy...

Thanks, Nano. Today I tried to break off the dead piece, and of course the whole thing popped off the rock, including the little bits that were still alive and encrusting on the rock. I glued it back on, but I hope I didn't just kill what was left.

I took this one in the "Pro" mode to get it so save in .dng, and then ran it rhough Lightroom to adjust the white balance. But even so, the picture is very purple. The acro on top isn't that purple, in reality it's a little more on the brown side. You can see the little bits of sand in the background have a definite purple cast. But I agree, it didn't turn out too bad

if it makes it any better, my 2 GBGs have been in QT for 1 month now and are doing great. your GBGs inspired me to finally get them and i can't wait to put them in the display. they are such amusing little fish, i'm really hoping they pair up

1 passed on, 2 reborn

That's exciting - I hope they graduate from quarantine soon!

I have at least one GBG running around in the 30g frag tank, and at least one in the 40g tank. There's no way I could ever catch the one in the 40, bit I wish I could move it into this tank where I'd see it more. I could probably catch the one in the frag tank because it's easy to take the rocks and frag racks out. But I kind of like having him in the 30 because I see him a lot there.

On 1/25/2018 at 9:29 AM, micoastreefing said:

Teeny, sorry to hear about the GBG, and hopefully the PC rainbow would bounce back.

Thanks! Fingers crossed!

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Thanks, Nano. Today I tried to break off the dead piece, and of course the whole thing popped off the rock, including the little bits that were still alive and encrusting on the rock. I glued it back on, but I hope I didn't just kill what was left.

I've had the same thing happen and it's hit-n-miss. As long as just a few polyps survive, there's still a chance.

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sorry to hear about the PC Rainbow. Is the tank too clean? I haven't had RTN since I stopped worrying about low nutrients. My clowns stopped laying eggs because their wall (overflow) was covered in a thick black/green algae that took me 5 minutes to scrape off. I wish I understood why acros sometimes tolerate unnaturally dirty conditions better than clean ones. I suspect it's because we can't keep enough floaties (food) in the water but I really have no clue.

Only other thing I can think of is a salinity issue.

Sorry about the Goby, that sucks.

I now suspect it had something to do with nutrients. Over the last month, and especially over the last two week, phosphates went from .03 to .14. But nitrates stayed steady at about 8. So it's not too clean, but something definitely changed. And last night I noticed that my dosing reservoir for NoPox was low, and the dosing tube had pulled out a little bit so it wasn't working any more. I don't know how long it's been like that, but I'm sure it's happened within the last two to four weeks.

Normally I wouldn't expect a rise in phosphates to cause RTN, but the ratio between nitrates and phosphates has changed a lot because nitrates haven't gone up as the phosphates did.

I agree about the floaties...but every thank is different. This tank has relatively normal/high nutrient levels, but very little/no algae other than a little film on the glass. The 30g frag tank has barely detectable nitrates and phosphates arount .02 or .03. And it has very little algae and all the corals including sps grow well. The 40g tank has nitrates around 8, phosphates around .04, grows algae like crazy, but also grows corals very well.

I definitely think overly low nitrates can be a big problem, it used to be that way in my 30g tank. But as it matured, I was able to stop dosing nitrates. It really does seem that the biggest thing is to let things mature, come to a natural balance, and not artificially adjust nitrates and phosphates relative to each other, unless it's done with careful consideration of the right ratio between them.

But of course that assumes there's a decent and balanced way to export nutrients. The 30g frag tank uses live rock and a skimmer, and nothing else. But I have to dose NoPox and use mechanical filtration in addition to live rock/skimming in the 10g and the 40g.

34 minutes ago, Nano sapiens said:

I've had the same thing happen and it's hit-n-miss. As long as just a few polyps survive, thee's still a chance.

I'll have to post some before and after pictures of the pc rainbow that did the same thing in the 40g tank. I was amazed how well it bounced back.

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Teeny, I think you're doing the right thing by just rolling with it. If everything else is doing fine, there's more harm in chasing numbers/misc. Also, sorry to hear about the goby :(.

I agree, I would have been really freaked out if all this happened two years ago. I'd probably be changing my filtration, salt mix, dosing regimen, and lighting schedule all at once trying to fix one mostly dead coral.

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I picked up a frag of Utter Chaos at the lfs the other day. One of my bucket list corals...it's amazing that there is still room for new corals in this tank after running it for years. I guess that's an indication of how many corals I've lost over the years...

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I picked up a frag of Utter Chaos at the lfs the other day. One of my bucket list corals...it's amazing that there is still room for new corals in this tank after running it for years. I guess that's an indication of how many corals I've lost over the years...

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Thanks! It's one of my bucket list corals, and I was just looking at a picture of them online, and wishing I had some but not wanting to pay a high price per polyp plus shipping. The very next day I just happened to be at the lfs, and they had just marked down a three polyp frag from $80 to $60, which is a reasonable price in my area. Sold!

I've been meaning to trim back the Idaho Grape monticap, especially where it's been overgrowing the California tort, as well as some of the red monticap. Plus I wanted to pull out some of the Sunny D palys where they've been taking over the other zoas. So I did, and now everything's mad, of course. Plus I accidentally broke off part of the green monticap, so it looks kind of small and insignificant. I may pull a bigger piece out of the frag tank and just replace this one, so it can keep up with the Idaho Grape.

I also moved the Utter Chaos zoas onto the rock with the green blasto merlettis ("Teenylettis") to make room on the rock for more ricordea florida, which I just ordered from KP Aquatics. I got my very first rics, in the 4g tank, from KP, and they were always some of my favorite rics. I've requested delivery for next Friday because I'll be out of town for a few days next week. But I can't wait!